How to develop a bulletproof Unique Selling Proposition (USP) – Part 4

Convinced You Need A USP?

Part Four of Four

Here’s something I hear fairly often from clients.

“I don’t want a USP because I’m afraid to limit myself.”

I understand. When I started my online lead generation company, I stated that I offered a wide range of services including copywriting, offline marketing services, web design, graphic design, and other marketing and advertising services. Marketing Results can provide all these services today but several years ago, I simplified my USP and focused my website and my marketing on one service that’s vital to small businesses: online lead generation. Two things happened:

• 110% increase in enquiries.
• Much higher quality of lead…fewer tyre-kickers.

You would think that making potential clients aware of all the services you offer would increase the number of leads but precisely the opposite is true, as I discovered. One reason? Potential clients focus on the one service we provide that solves a specific problem: not enough qualified leads. Adjunctive services are not a distraction. This focus makes our marketing significantly easier and it makes the message easier to understand.

To develop this focus, identify a gap in your industry and choose the service you provide that fills this gap. Start by asking these questions.

1. What do people currently dislike about our industry?
2. What are our competitors’ weaknesses?
3. What specific needs are being unmet in the market?

Another client is Loans Approved, a mortgage broker specializing in serving the needs of property investors. The mortgage business is extremely competitive. We worked with the managing director to achieve marketing focus (and a much better USP). Every mortgage broker can handle a simple first home loan application but very few understand how to structure multiple loans for long-term success. Banks will structure loans on their terms unless and it turns out this can handcuff property investors and keep them from buying as many homes as they could.

The tagline for Loans Approved is…

The Property Investor’s Mortgage Broker.

Loans Approved goes well beyond this tagline. The company also provides prospects with the latest education and advice—specifically special reports and newsletters; the information reinforces their place in the market as THE experts in this highly specialized field. Prospects know precisely why it makes more sense for property investors to deal with Loans Approved than a bank or ‘one stop shop.’

Expertise in a specific niche can be a very powerful USP, especially on the Internet. Becoming more focused in a specific niche means you dominate a playing field which is always more successful than trying to secure some turf in a market that’s commoditized.

Sometimes, when I consult with a business to help them improve their online results, the company has a USP. But it’s a “faux USP” or a USP that’s not appealing to the target market. The classic faux USP is the One Stop Shop. For example:

“We’re a one stop shop for anyone interested in building wealth. I’m an accountant and I have a mortgage broker and a financial planner and a conveyancer to whom I can refer clients.”

The one stop shop sounds extremely convenient. Unfortunately, this strategy rarely works for small businesses. Why? There’s no focus and the prospect gets no sense you’re an expert. People will pay for expertise or specialization; in fact, they’ll pay MORE. There’s a reason heart surgeons and brain surgeons are paid much, much more than general doctors. If you went to see a knee specialist, I’m confident you would find it weird if the doctor said,

“I also perform open heart surgery.”

On the Internet, especially with search, prospective clients are looking for specific answers to specific problems. If you’re a small business, trying to solve too many problems is a mistake. Yes, the patient looking for a knee operation might need a new heart; the knee specialist refers the patient to the cardiologist. Yes, the knee doctor can help patients with a variety of ailments but he promotes himself as a specialist with a narrow focus.

Even big companies that offer a wide range of services stick to advertising they offer one solution. Again, take the example of FedEx. They sell themselves as offering just one solution (overnight package delivery) but they offer full logistics services.

Don’t tell anyone, but, at Marketing Results, we’re a one stop shop for lead generation and marketing. But our focus is providing a single solution: online lead generation. We don’t emphasize all the services we offer: AdWords management, conversion rate optimization, and search engine optimization—plus design, copywriting, and more. But the marketing center of gravity in the eyes of the prospect is getting leads through the Internet.

Here’s the real beauty of focus. Once you’ve solved the client’s problem the client trusts you, you can ask for additional business in related fields. Our USP helps us find clients because it’s extremely focused. Here’s the full version.

As Australia’s leading internet lead generation experts,
Marketing Results uses sophisticated web analytics to
precisely understand how visitors are interacting with your
website, then leverage proven traffic and conversion
strategies to cut marketing waste, expand your reach and
effectiveness and boost website profits by 2 to 21 times
(based on over 5 years of documented client results).

Again, we provide all the competencies necessary to help our clients. But the focus is lead generation. Clients don’t care that we offer all the services—all they want is qualified leads!

Final USP Thoughts

Online, a well-built USP plays a vital role keeping visitors on your website and letting prospects know you can solve a problem. When I’m working with clients, the first step is to write a compelling USP then base all the marketing around the USP. And remember, positioning is 50 times more important, and profitable, than branding.

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